acquired an old wetterlings double bit head, looking for info on hafts. w/ pics

[rxavage]

so i picked up a "vintage" wetterlings db head and id like to hang it on a 21-23" haft but my cursory search has yielded nothing promising. anyone have any advice or recommendations?

 

[Whiskey_Jim]

What's the head weight?
I hung a 4lb double on a 24 inch handle and it was somewhere between unwieldy and dangerous. You might be able to get away with it on a lighter head. Sounds like what you want is a cruiser style double bit.

 

[rxavage]

i think it's 3.5lbs. i just bought it on the big auction site today, so i don't actually have it in my possession yet. this will also be my first hang, your threads will be an immense help.

 

[300Six]

Eye size is going to dictate the choice of factory handles unless you decide to whittle your own. Anything around 2 foot long is going to be awfully short for that sort of head weight. Great first time project. You're starting off with an excellent piece of steel and straight hafts are much more forgiving, and easier to work with, than curved.

Speaking of which: we need pictures! And just so you know, Wetterlings as a 100+ year old company is about to become defunct (next month).

 

[rxavage]

i use a 14" 5lb hammer at work, unnecessarily, for excercise and accuracy practice. and i'm looking to make this a pack axe of sorts. i really want to pick up the council tool saddle axe but the available handle seems slightly too short, and i read that wetterlings was going defunct, while perusing auctions, the idea hit and i won, so here we are.

i own the wetterlings bushcraft axe and i feel the head is too light for handle length. the only other axe i own is the ct velvicut hudson bay 19". if i could switch handles with those 2 i'd be a happy man. anyways, i might just buy a handle blank and put some work in, it'll probably take a while but there will be pics.

 

[Agent_H]

What pattern, more or less, is your new axe head?

At 3.5lbs that might be a little heavy for a 21-23" handle - at least for me.

House Handle and others offer a 32" double bit handle that might be closer to a more easily wielded length.

I don't like to tell a guy what to do with his tools but you could always find a cruiser head if you are keen on a 23" double bit handle. Even then I think 28" is what you will find as a standard for that eye size.

Shaping out your own is the most rewarding and the extra time is worth it to not have to compromise with standard lengths that are commercially offered.

That and it's fun.

 

[garry3]

Eye size is going to dictate the choice of factory handles unless you decide to whittle your own. Anything around 2 foot long is going to be awfully short for that sort of head weight. Great first time project. You're starting off with an excellent piece of steel and straight hafts are much more forgiving, and easier to work with, than curved.

Speaking of which: we need pictures! And just so you know, Wetterlings as a 100+ year old company is about to become defunct (next month).

Rxavage, this isn't directed at you it is just an observation on what I have seen on the internet.

300, a quick search will show that most folks out there can't swing a hatchet. They can't generate any power or accuracy. So they default to useing two hands on almost everything. That's why the bushcrafters love any short haft just long enough they can get two hands on. It's the most accurate size and they get some power. They are probably better off, but it's painful to watch.

 

[300Six]

Any and all cruiser handles are going to require several wraps of hockey or electrical tape or wire in order to fill the eye of a full size head. Whittling stuff down is standard practice but up-sizing is not. Buzzing the end off a full size handle in order to achieve 24 inch will also wind up looking and feeling hokey.

 

[Square_peg]

House sells a 30" full size dB haft.

 

[rxavage]

the eye appears tapered and i don't know what those splotchy spots are, they're not welds but maybe some filling of sorts. worth the 65$?

 

[Derzelas]

Based on the prices the vintage SAW single bit is selling on ebay these days, the price is quite good. Enjoy the tool

 

[Guitarist7.62]

Those big splotches are pitting from rust, looks like spots where rust started and allowed to continue until being cleaned up recently.

 

[300Six]

Those big splotches are pitting from rust, looks like spots where rust started and allowed to continue until being cleaned up recently.

I think it's more a case of surface grinding/finishing that didn't fully remove the scale from mass production forging. By the 1980s all axe makers were desperately trying to cut every corner they could to reduce the amount (and cost) of human labour. A mere few years later the Swedes entirely threw in the towel on previously-standard 'glossy smooth' commercial finishing and said 'because this is hand-made what you see is what you get'.

 

[Guitarist7.62]

I think it's more a case of surface grinding/finishing that didn't fully remove the scale from mass production forging. By the 1980s all axe makers were desperately trying to cut every corner they could to reduce the amount (and cost) of human labour. A mere few years later the Swedes entirely threw in the towel on previously-standard 'glossy smooth' commercial finishing and said 'because this is hand-made what you see is what you get'.

I could see that. It's a little hard to tell from the photos, but Either way a good tool.